The 'small but mighty' Lerryn CofE Primary School in the village of Lerryn, Cornwall, needs to raise £40k to keep second teacher at their school to avoid ultimate closure. Parents and members of the local community need to raise the money in a matter of weeks if they hope to maintain the current level of education at the local village school.

St Barnabas MAT, who took over the running of the school last year, have confirmed plans to reduce the current two-classroom, two-teacher setup to a one-class arrangement due to low children numbers and strained finances. Under the proposed plans, a single teacher will cover lessons for both key stage 1 and key stage 2 children (years 1-6), as well as reception and nursery children, with assistance from two part-time HLTAs.

Parents at the school fear for their children's education under the proposed plan, and for the potential growth in years to come, believing that continuing as planned could cause the eventual closure of the school.

All funds received will be held by the Lerryn School Association and used to secure the hiring of a qualified teacher for the coming academic year, work with the MAT to build children numbers and secure a promising future for the school and its children.

The village is also calling on the Trust, as well as other interested parties, to help make up the short-fall in funding for next year, giving time to enable the school to grow to sustainable levels.

Katrine Musgrave, Chair of Lerryn School Association, said:

We have dedicated parents, a committed village community, and an LSA who in the last 2 school years has raised nearly £4000, that are willing to work together with the Trust to improve children numbers, help with financial roadblocks and retain the desired two class structure. We formed the Lerryn School Action Group to work collaboratively with the new Head and Trust with the sole focus of stabilising and improving the school.